On January 31, James Gunn finally unveiled the new and highly anticipated DCU movie and television slate that will hopefully breathe new life into the otherwise faltering entertainment giant. Giving the first chapter of this new DC Universe the title “Gods and Monsters,” the co-CEO announced numerous upcoming theatrical features and television series including Superman: Legacy and a modern comic book adaptation of The Dark Knight, called The Brave and the Bold.
In the midst of the more than ten new titles officially announced, there were definitely some wild card franchises that wouldn’t have made the leap from print to film if it wasn’t for Gunn himself always looking to prop up lesser-known and outright obscure characters. Just as he propelled Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy to have the same level of popularity as Thor and Captain America, the writer and director now has his eyes fixed on a more ruthless, no holds barred DC superhero team movie adaptation called The Authority.
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First created in 1999 by Bryan Hitch and Warren Ellis, this team of heroes is not like the widely-known and respected Justice League or the always morally bound Teen Titans. Initially labeled under the Wildstorm branch of DC Comics, this group of seven individuals just don’t abide by any preconceived morals when it comes to completing the mission that they are given.
Who Is In The Authority?
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The Authority has had plenty of members. Led by Jenny Sparks, who could control electricity and was deemed the Spirit of the 20th Century, she was joined by Midnighter and Apollo, two super-powered beings that were drawn out to be homages of DC’s Superman and Batman, Jack Hawksmoor, a man who is telepathically linked to entire cities and can channel their energy through him, and a woman named Swift who exhibits physical features similar to a hawk and can fly as fast as the speed of light if she so wishes. Also within the Authority is The Engineer, a being who is entirely made out of nanotechnology and liquid metal. She can manipulate all sorts of machinery. Finally, there is The Doctor, who is a shaman who holds the power of the hundred healers who came before him.
Ultimately lasting twenty-nine issues and rotating through different artists and writers such as Grant Morrison (creator of Doom Patrol) and Tom Taylor (creator of Injustice: Gods Among Us), the anti-hero team went through some very harrowing villains and scenarios that could make their big screen debut that much more worthwhile for viewing audiences. From fighting against larger-than-life religious deities to intergalactic casino owners who are looking for cataclysmic bets to being utterly destroyed by a DC mainstay, let’s take a look at what could very well happen when this team is placed in front of the whole world to see.
Fighting God and Deflecting Warheads
One of the most absurd but attention-grabbing possibilities ironically happens early on in The Authority’s comic run. Aliens arrive on Earth and start placing odd markers in different countries. With guidance from previous iterations of The Doctor, the team finds out that all life on the planet was accidentally birthed when God, a massive sentient cube, left the planet that he created alone for a bit while traversing the galaxy. Upon return, the moon fatefully came into existence and that led to an environment habitual enough for humans. God was disgusted by the mess people had made and enacted a plan to end all life. Jenny Sparks used the last of her life force to kill God before he could do so.
While this sounds chaotic enough, the story does not stop there. As a last act of revenge, the bounty hunter Lobo (who has a rumored big-screen debut coming himself) was called in afterward by the organisms living inside God’s dead brain to hunt down the Authority. This ultimately didn’t pan out because God’s last orbit around Jupiter was also destroyed, bringing an end to the microorganisms seeking redemption for their leader. With rumors of Jason Momoa being cast as Lobo, this plot actually looks quite feasible all of a sudden.
Bringing the absurdity down just a notch, the very start of the second volume of this chaotic comic sees Apollo interrogating a lone member of the Dice men who are an attack force sent by a planet-sized casino out in Alternate 66 called Viceworld. The leader of Viceworld is Maddora Chance, a betting woman who is running a wager with her intergalactic friends to see if the Authority can actually stop an invasion from her forces on their home planet.
Seeing that they are indeed defending quite well so far, Maddora enacts a new plan using warheads called Shatterstars. One of these bombs could destroy half a continent. The Engineer quickly senses a detonating Shatterstar and teleports it right into the military heart of Viceworld, bringing an end to Maddora’s sick game. While this is not dealing with religious themes that harbor an obnoxious twist, wagers involving warheads could be a suspenseful rollercoaster ride for moviegoers.
Facing Off Against an Iconic DC Character
Finally, the last storyline we will cover coincidentally involves a hero that Gunn has recently spoken about on Twitter. Oddly confirming that his dog loves Captain Atom back in December, fans of the Authority cannot forget the hellish battle that took place between the entities in 2006. With the miniseries being penned by Will Pfeifer (who adapted The Texas Chainsaw Massacre into a comic book series) and the two main attractions ultimately considering the other a growing threat to each’s universes, a fight unlike any other takes place right in the Authority’s ship, costing the lives of Apollo, Midnighter and Jenny Quantum (Jenny Spark’s next form). Everything comes to a close when a returning hero called The Void takes over Captain Atom’s body and rewinds the chaos.
The Authority may very well be a team name that has been forgotten with time, but with James Gunn at the helm of the DCU, it’s just going to be a matter of time before the superhero team steps into the forefront of comic book fans once more.
